San Diego Humane Society

See how we wiped out server problems and replaced old hardware at this local nonprofit.

One Lucky Dog

Our relationship with the San Diego Humane Society started with a dog and a phone call.

A board member of the nonprofit organization called us one day with a problem: the whole group’s email system had been offline for almost three weeks! A few days later, a centrexIT team member spoke with an acquaintance who had just found a stray dog. Never one to miss an opportunity, the centrexIT team member volunteered to bring it into the humane society.

While staff members scanned the dog’s microchip, the centrexIT team member asked to see the server room. Most of the equipment was 10 years out of date, and the email system’s database was shot. The humane society didn’t have hardware powerful enough to repair it – but centrex did. The centrexIT team member copied the database and repaired it on our supercomputer-powered cloud system.

Avoiding Disaster

The humane society was ready to scrap 30 years’ worth of emails, calendar records and contacts for almost 400 people. Within a few days, we had everything working smoothly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they signed on as a managed IT client a month later.

Staff at the center were used to weekly – and sometimes daily – outages in their email systems or computers. After partnering with centrexIT, they’ve had just two small blips in availability in the past eight months – and only from legacy hardware slated for replacement.

“Before centrexIT, our network was extremely vulnerable. Frequent email outages were disastrous to our productivity and stress level. Since centrexIT, our IT infrastructure is more secure and our day-to-day operations are running smoothly. And centrexIT’s outstanding Customer Service made the transition a breeze!”

Diane Gilabert
CFO & Senior Vice President

Simpler IT

Now that the system is stabilized, we’re replacing 200 desktops and laptops more than five years old. We’ve installed firewalls at each humane society, and we’re negotiating with Cox Communications to get them faster internet service at a lower price.

The best part? The humane society spends on centrexIT about what it spent on reactive, disaster-response-only IT before us. They’re saving time and improving their operation by switching to a proactive approach. That gives them more resources for their core mission – improving the lives of animals in San Diego and beyond.